The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-02-03
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
AIS THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION A
CHEAT?o HIS SUBJECT.

"A Deiusion that Numbers zoo, coo, 900
Souls as Dupes, that Has Conquered
the ETcathen, that Has Reformed the
DrunE<ard, that is Joy on Earth.
BRooKLYN, Jan 30-At the Tabernacle
this morning the Rev. I. De Witt Talmage,
D. D. baptized By immersion number of
persons who preferred that mode, as on tho
'52n1ny previous ne had baptized by sprin-
king those who so desired. Professor Browne,
the orgauist, rendered the Sonata in C minor
by Rheinberger The opening hunln, sung by
the whole congregation, was that beginning:
o happy day that fixed my choice
On thee, my Saviour and my God.
After reading another list Of those who
during the wee; had united with the church,
DR.. TalInag i'iscussed the subject, 'Is the
Christian f.irigfion a Cheatsn His text was:
\ He made Lis arrows bright, he consulted
, with images, he looked in the lver," EzeAiel
xxi, q. The preacher said:
Two modes of divinaton by which the king
of Babylon proposed to find out the viii of
God: He tool. a bundle of arrows, put them
together, mixed them up, then pulled forth
one and by the inscription ON it decided what
city he should first assault Then an animal
was slain, and by the lighter or darker color
of the liver the brighter or darker prospect
of success was inferred. That is the meaning
Of tho text: "He made his arrows bright, he
consulted with images, he looked in the
liver"
Stupid delusiOn! And yet all the ages have
been flied with delusions. 1t seems as if the
world loves to be hoodwinked; the delusion of
the text is only specimen of a vast number
OF dcceits practiced upon the human race In
the latter part Of the last century Johanna
isouthcote came forth pretending to have
divine power, made prophecies, had chapels
built in her honor and 100000 disciples came
forth to follow her About five years before
the birth of Christ Apollonius was born, and
he came forth, and after five years being
speechless, according to the tradition, lie
healed the sick and raised the dead. and
preached virtue, and, according to the myth,
having deceased, was brought to resurrec-
ton!
The Delphc Oracle deceived vast multi
tudes of people; the Pythoness seated in the
temple of Appolo, uttering a crazy jargon
from which the people guessed or nisguessed
their individual or national fortunes or mis-
fortunes. The utteranceS were OF such
nature that you could read them any way
you wanted to read them. A general going
forth to battle, consulted the Delphic Oracle,
going to be safe in the battle or killed in the
battle, and the answer came forth from the
Delphic Oracle in such words that. if you put
the comma before the word "never," it
means one thing, and if you put the comma
after the word "never," it means another
thing Just opposite. the message from the
Delphic Oracle to the general was: 'Go
forth, return never in battle shalt thou
perish" If he was killed, that was according
to the Delphic Oracle; if he came home safely,
that was according to the Delphic Oracle. So
the ancient auguries deceived the people. The
priests of those auguries, by the flight of
birds or by the intonation of thunder, or by
the inside appearance Of slain animals, told
TIE fortunes or misfortunes of individuals or
nations. The sibyls deceived the people. The
sibyls were supposed to be inspired women
who lived in caves and who wrote
the sibyl line books, afterward pur-
chased by Tarquin the Proud. So
late as the yeaf 1929 man arose in New
York, pretending to be a divine being, and
playing his part so well that wealthy mer-
chants became his disciples and threw their
fortunes into his discipleship And so in all
ages there have been necromancies, incanta-
tions, witchcrafts, sorceries, magical arts,
entertainments, divinations and delusions. The
one of the text was only q specimen Of that
which has been transpiring in all ages of the
world None of these delusions accom-
plished any good. They deceived, they
pauperized the people, they woro as cruel as
they were absurd. They opened no hospt-
tails, they healed no wounds, they wiped
away no tears, they emancipated 10 sef-
dom
But there arc those who say that all these
J Celusions cds5ined are as nothing compared
Nth the delusion now abroad in the world
The delusion of tho Christian religion. That de
lusion has to-day two hundred million dupes
II proposes to er.circle the earth with it:
CirC;le. That which has been called delu
sion has already overshadowed the Appa
lachian range on this side the sea, and it has
overshadowed tho Balkan and Caucasian
ranges on tho other side tso sea. 1t ha!
conquered England and the United States
This champion dclusion, this hoax, thii
sygindlo of tho ages, as it has been called
has gono forth to conquer the island!
OF the Pacific; tho Meanasia and tht
Micronesia and Nalayan Polynesia have
already surrendered to the delusion, Yea, i
hes conquered the Indian archipelago, an(
DoTneo, and Sumatra, and Celebes and Javt
have fallen under its wiles. In the FIJI
islands, where there are 120, 900 people, 102, ,0O
hnve already become the dupes of this Chris
tian religion, and if things go on as they ar
now going on, and il the influence of thi
great hallucination of the ages cannot b
stoppad, it will swallow tho globe. Suppos
ing, then, that Christianity is the delusion O
tho centuries, as some have pronounced it,
propose this morning to show you what ha
been accomplished by this chimera, this fal
laey, this hoax, this swindle of the ages.
And in tho first place, remark that thi
clelusion OF the Christian religion has mad
wonderful transformations of human charac
ter. | win go down the aisle of any churcl
in CHI istenclom and will find on either sid
that aisle those who were once profigate, pro
fame unclean of speech and unclean of &C
ZION. drunken and lost. But by the power o
this delusion OF tho Christian religion the.
have been completely transformed, and noy
they are kind and amiable, and genial an
loving, md useful. Everybody secs th
change Under the power of this great hal
Inclination they havo quit their former assc
ciates, and whereas they once found thei
chief delight among those who gambled an
svore and raced horses, now they find thei
chief Joy among those who so to praye
meetings and churches, so complete is til
dclusior. Yea, their own families have nc
ticed it-tho WHO has noticed it, the childre
have noticed it. Tho money that went 70
rum now goes for books and for clothes an
for education. Ho is q now man. All wh
know him say there has been wonderfr
change What is tho cause of this change
This great hallucinetion of the Christian II
lion. Thcro is as much difference betwee
what he is now and what he onco was as bt
tween rose and o nettle, as between dov
and . vultuyc, cs between day and night
Tremendous delusionl
Admiral Farragut, one Of the most &C
Inired men OF the American navy, carly bt
came a victim of this Christian delusion, en-
seated not long before his death, at Lon
Branch, he was giving some friends an az
count OF his early life He said: